Did AMD just drop a 12-core Ryzen CPU? It did, announcing on Monday morning its new line of 7nm Ryzen 3000 CPUs using Zen 2 cores.
The highlight is the Ryzen 9 Pro 3900, which packs 12 of the company’s Zen 2 cores and features a boost clock of 4.1GHz and a base clock of 3.1GHz. That’s about 500MHz lower than the boost clock of the company’s Ryzen 9 3900X, as well as 700MHz lower on the base clock. The difference is understandable, however, given the CPU’s much lower 65-watt TDP rating.
The Ryzen 7 Pro 3700 is in the middle with 8 cores, 16 threads, and a boost clock of 4.4GHz and base clock of 3.6GHz. The last Zen 2-based CPU is the Ryzen 5 3600, with 6 cores, 12 threads, a 4.2GHz boost clock, and a 3.6GHz base clock. Both are also 65-watt TDP CPUs.
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AMD pushes its multi-threading performance lead against Intel, also including numbers that show Ryzen Pro ahead of Intel’s parts in some very data-intensive tasks.
As corporate-focused CPUS, the chips feature AMD’s security suite, including AMD Secure Boot and AMD-V. All of the chips also support AMD’s Memory Guard, which encrypts memory in real time to prevent advanced exploits and steal data directly from memory. This last feature, AMD pointed out, is not supported by Intel.
You might notice the lack of integrated graphics, a feature popular on most corporate machines (which typically forego discrete graphics). AMD has an answer for that: Ryzen Pro APUs with Vega graphics integrated. Two of the new Ryzen Pro G-series chips are rated at a 65-watt TDP, while the GE-series is rated at a cool 35-watt TDP. Despite their 3000-level model numbers, these APUs are still based on a 12nm process, instead of the company’s newest 7nm cores.
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AMD’s entire Pro stack includes security features.
For budget corporate boxes, AMD introduced an Athlon Pro 300E with two cores and integrated graphics. Despite its low price, AMD said the CPU offers security features Intel typically leaves off the table on its budget parts.